Timothy Dolan Issues Letter To Obama About Gay Marriage

By David Gibson
Religion News Service

NEW YORK (RNS) The nation's top Catholic bishop issued a stern challenge to the Obama administration's decision not to support a federal ban on gay marriage, and warned the president that his policies could "precipitate a national conflict between church and state of enormous proportions."

In a letter sent Tuesday (Sept. 20), Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, who heads the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said he and other prelates have grown increasingly concerned since the administration announced last February that it would no longer defend the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act in court.

The Obama administration says it believes the law that defines marriage as between one man and one woman is unconstitutional.

Dolan said the bishops are especially upset that the administration and opponents of DOMA are framing their argument as a civil rights issue, which he said equates "opposition to redefining marriage with either intentional or willfully ignorant racial discrimination."

He also argued that traditional marriage is best for society, and that treating gay marriage as a civil right would lead to discrimination against believers and against church agencies that could not, for example, accommodate gay couples as adoptive parents.

"The administration's failure to change course on this matter will... precipitate a national conflict between church and state of enormous proportions and to the detriment of both institutions," Dolan warned.

The two-page letter was followed by a three-page analysis from the USCCB's legal staff that charges the administration with "hostility" to traditional marriage and a "new, more aggressive position" on behalf of gay marriage. In especially strong language, it also argues that the administration treats millions of Americans who oppose gay marriage "as if they were bigots."

The tenor of the bishops' warning appears to signal an escalation in their battle against gay marriage, as well as a hardening of their opposition to Obama just as the 2012 presidential campaign gets underway. The bishops' new hard line was welcomed by conservatives, and it comes as Obama is facing record-low opinion ratings.

The bishops' stance carries risks, however, as voters appear to be focused on the state of the economy more than gay marriage. Moreover, polls show a steady erosion of opposition to gay rights of all kinds among the U.S. population, with Catholics more open to endorsing gay relationships than many other faith groups.

The bishops have been careful to frame their opposition to Obama's policies in the context of religious freedom and defending the right of individuals and religions to act according to the dictates of their conscience.

On Monday (Sept. 19), the day before Dolan sent his letter to Obama on gay marriage, the bishops of Washington, Maryland and Delaware sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius that strongly objects to proposed regulations mandating health care coverage of contraception.

For the Catholic Church, which considers the use of artificial birth control a sin, the mandate is "a radically new and unprecedented attack on religious freedom," said Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Baltimore Archbishop Edwin O'Brien and Wilmington Bishop W. Francis Malooly.

WATCH Gay Couples Rush To The Altar:

Comments

[Paul David Johnson]

12:41 PM on 10/04/2011

This is priceless. This is from the letter the bishop sent to the president about DOMA,

"We as Bishops of the Catholic Church recognize the immeasurable personal dignity and equal
worth of all individuals, including those with same-sex attraction, and we reject all hatred and unjust treatment against any person."

You mean unjust treatment like denying same-sex couples the countless benefits received at the state and federal level? Talking out both sides of his mouth. They reject all hatred and unjust treatment except for that treatment they put forth that is justified by their religious view.

[truth be told again]

11:19 AM on 10/03/2011

Any such "conflict" that emanates from a so-called "church" means that "church" is misusing its funds. They should be out there feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and giving shelter to the homeless.

[truth be told again]

02:27 PM on 09/29/2011

I wonder how Dolan must feel being the very CAUSE of this "national conflict"?

[truth be told again]

02:25 PM on 09/29/2011

The RCC is in the business of fomenting conflict. Too bad that wasn't their Leader's original commission,eh?

[pop43211]

05:24 PM on 10/06/2011

Duh! I guess you never read Luke 12:51-53: "Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division; 52 for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three. 53 "They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law." But of course you haven't!

[cminca]

11:30 PM on 09/28/2011

"....precipitate a national conflict between church and state of enormous proportions and to the detriment of both institutions."

Shouldn't the archbishop be more concerned with the spiritual well being of his flock than any perceived detrement to the institution of the church?

[pop43211]

05:25 PM on 10/06/2011

Duh! That is that is what he is doing.

[loggerboots]

06:01 PM on 09/28/2011

If you needed an annulment, Dolan was the man to see in Milwaukee,our former archbishop. After getting your divorce,and palming his hand with 10K,you were free to remarry in any catholic church.

[curiousdwk]

08:00 PM on 09/26/2011

The article quotes a Bishop as saying "[This] equates "opposition to redefining marriage with either intentional or willfully ignorant racial discrimination." Yup.

It also says this letter says, "treats millions of Americans who oppose gay marriage "as if they were bigots." Yup.

I would consider the Catholic Church both ignorant and a bigot when it come to gay issues.

Why is the Catholic Church trying to sway President Obama. Let them define marriage in their own bigoted way but they should not try to foist their bigotry onto the rest of the society.

[Edward Hara]

07:28 PM on 09/30/2011

And don't you try to foist your lifestyle upon the rest of society either.

[mercury613]

01:24 PM on 10/02/2011

Unless you can point to an instance where someone was forced to marry someone of the same sex, your argument is inane.

[pop43211]

05:35 PM on 10/06/2011

Duh! Gay, Lesbian, Bi, Transvesti"ism" are not races. Nice try on a spin though.

Bigot -a person who is intolerant of any ideas other than his or her own, esp on religion, politics, or race

These are not "his own" opinions, but the opinion of the Church and most civil societies throughout the ages.

However, you fit the definition.

[Janicot]

07:39 PM on 09/26/2011

"Dolan said the bishops are especially upset that the administration and opponents of DOMA are framing their argument as a civil rights issue, which he said equates "opposition to redefining marriage with either intentional or willfully ignorant racial discrimination."

So when one discernable sub-set of society is legally precluded from the same rights and protections afforded to everyone else as a matter of course, what should we be calling it if not "discrimination"...? "Catholicism", perhaps?

[pop43211]

05:37 PM on 10/06/2011

Try "super-set." You are the sub-set.

[cable1977]

07:25 PM on 09/26/2011

"which he said equates "opposition to redefining marriage with either intentional or willfully ignorant racial discrimination.""

Ummm....so?

If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and walks like a duck, then there is a significant likelihood that it is, in fact, a duck.

The simple fact of the matter is that there is no good logical, rational, legal reason to oppose gay marriage. One simply needs to examine Judge Walker's decision in the Prop 8 trial to see how flimsy the oppositions arguments are against gay marriage. The supporters of Prop 8 were unable to provide good reasoning as to why the legal rights of marriage should be denied to same-sex couples.

Without good, legal, rational reasoning, one is left with the nagging suspcion that the opposition to gay marriage is derived from, as the good Bishop himself said, intentional and willfully ignorant discrimination.

[pop43211]

05:39 PM on 10/06/2011

Try moral and physical. When is the last time two people of the same sex procreated without extraordinary medical assistance.

[BLMer]

04:58 PM on 09/26/2011

Let just settle this now....everyone must get a civil marriage at the court house. If you want a ceremonial religious wedding then that is performed after the civil mirriage. Your option.

[mercury613]

05:27 PM on 09/26/2011

Very logical and reasonable. Unfortunately, logic and reason do not work with irrational people who are foaming at the mouth over the prospect of not being allowed to impose their beliefs on others.

[talkstocoyotes]

05:37 AM on 09/27/2011

Let's just settle this now.... we have marriage laws applying to everyone equally. If you don't approve of them applying to same-sex couples, don't marry a gay person. Your option.

[mercury613]

04:33 PM on 09/26/2011

"The nation's top Catholic bishop issued a stern challenge to the Obama administration's decision... and warned the president that his policies could "precipitate a national conflict between church and state of enormous proportions."

Hey Dolan -- Newsflash: this already *is* a conflict between church and state of enormous proportions. You do not have the right to impose your religious beliefs on those of us who don't share them. Period.

[Edward Hara]

07:28 PM on 09/30/2011

Then keep your gay behavior between yourself and your lover and we will be just fine, thank you.

[mercury613]

01:26 PM on 10/02/2011

Keep your pathologically sex-obsessed nose out of other people's business, and we'll be just fine, thank you.

[OnTheRoadAgain]

01:52 PM on 09/26/2011

Since Obama's masters care little about this social issue, and his base, what's left of it, does, I'm afraid this is a losing proposition. Try again, "Father".

[OnTheRoadAgain]

01:37 PM on 09/26/2011

>>The nation's top Catholic bishop issued a stern challenge
>>to the Obama administration's decision
>>not to support a federal ban on gay marriage,

How *stern* was it?

[PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS]

12:43 PM on 09/26/2011

This vile bigot should concentrate on assisting the tens of thousands of kids who were raped by kiddie diddling Catholic priests who were protected by being moved to various parishes in a twisted game of hide and seek for decades..............

[Bob Wood]

12:38 PM on 09/26/2011

The Church should follow the law of the land...or cease to accept it's tax exempt status if not. Certainly it shouldn't get to benefit both ways. The Church is not going to perform same-sex marriages...so what's the complaint all about. Our nation must be guided by law...and reason...not by ancient mythology and superstition...(sigh)

[pop43211]

11:28 PM on 10/06/2011

DOMA IS the law of the land dummy!!! Obama is acting as an anarchist. Picks and chooses which laws he likes and wants to enforce. Anarchism.

[mercury613]

04:26 PM on 10/07/2011

"Picks and chooses which laws he likes and wants to enforce."

As has every almost every President. You really need to take a political science class.